TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
COVID-19 becomes reality check for Jokowi promise
A new public opinion poll conducted by the Kompas daily, which was released on Tuesday, shows that President Jokowi's job disapproval rating stands at 52.5 percent.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo talks to a pulmonologist who works at a COVID-19 referral hospital in Jakarta through a video call on Sunday. (Courtesy of Presidential Press Bureau/--)
O
ne year into his second term, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration has now been sidetracked by COVID-19 and his efforts to realize his campaign promises are being thwarted by his lackluster handling of the pandemic, a setback which has raised doubts about his performance in office.
A new public opinion poll conducted by the Kompas daily, which was released on Tuesday, shows that President Jokowi's job disapproval rating stands at 52.5 percent.
In the public opinion survey, in which Kompas polled 529 respondents between Oct. 14 and 16, 46.3 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with Jokowi's performance in the job, while another 6.2 percent was very dissatisfied.
The latest job approval rating is a new low for President Jokowi, who began his second term on Oct. 20, 2019. In a public opinion survey released in late August, the Jakarta-based pollster Sjaiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) found that Jokow's approval rating remained mostly unaffected by the COVID-19 crisis, with 67 percent of respondents saying that they were satisfied or very satisfied with Jokowi’s performance.
The job approval rating for the former Jakarta governor was 72 percent in March.
The Presidential Palace has acknowledged that COVID-19 is a game-changer and has forced President Jokowi to reorient his goals for his second term in office.
"This pandemic has affected some of [the President's] plans and programs [...] the government has to refocus and reallocate funding to prioritize programs and mitigation in health and socio-economic recovery," Presidential chief of staff Moeldoko said in a statement prefacing Jokowi's one-year progress report released on Tuesday.
